From Opus

Male
Photo by obasanmi
Gambia, June 2007

Tockus nasutus

[edit] Identification

45cm.

• Grey body, head, flight feathers and long tail are darker
• White line down each side of the head and one on the back (visible only in flight)
• Long curved bill (black in male, female has red mandibles)
• Small casque and a creamy horizontal stripe.
  

Immature birds are more uniformly grey.

[edit] Distribution

Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
Western Africa: Mauritania, Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Female
Photo by Reini
Photographed: The Gambia

[edit] Taxonomy

Tockus nasutus has 2 subspecies^[1]

• T. n. nasutus:

  Senegambia to Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda; Arabian Peninsula

• T. n. epirhinus:

• Southern Uganda and south-eastern Kenya to northern South Africa

[edit] Habitat

Riverine bush, acacia woodland and savannah.

[edit] Behaviour

2-4 white eggs are laid in a tree hollow, which is blocked off during incubation with a cement made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. There is only one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks. When the young and the female are too big to fit in the nest, the mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall, then both parents feed the young.

[edit] Vocalisation

Though often unobtrusive they tend to call at sunrise producing a long sorrowful piping wail which varies in speed but often rises to a crescendo when the bird's head is thrown back as its whole body trembles with the effort.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links